John 3:16 - "For God so loved the world [you] that He gave His one and only Son [Jesus Christ], that whoever believes in him [if you believe in him you] shall not perish but have eternal life."

John 1:12 - "Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God..."

Romans 10:9-10 - "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord,' and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved."

In this day and age it is so easy for me to just slip out of passion for God…and this is me being honest (in other words, it’s not easy to admit).

But it doesn’t make sense…I believe God exists and that He sent His Son, Christ, to die for me. So why do I lose passion? I mean what He has done and is doing is amazing! Think of what He has done and what He’s doing!!!

But then I slip out of passion. It’s like I fall asleep in my awareness of and love for God…

It’s like all of a sudden – swoosh --- there it goes. It’s like it is blindly taken away from me…

Every once in a while I become apathetic (definition above) toward the things of God.

How about you? Right now? Have you lost the passion you once had? Does your passion for God seem to come and go? Rise and fall? It’s there one day, but the next it just disappears? Or has it been gone for a while?

Hmmm…let me think: Why would our passion fluctuate? Why would our emotions for the things of God go up and down?

Satan’s Experiments for this generation: Make God’s people apathetic

But why would Satan want to make us emotionless? Why would he want to steal our passion?

The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy…John 10:10

Well, I believe it’s pretty simple: Satan removes passion = we become uncaring = people don’t see or hear Christ through us.

And if we don’t live representing Christ and the message of salvation…then Satan gets more people to go to hell with him.

But NO! We must stop allowing ourselves to slip into these areas of apathy! Satan makes it so easy! Because to become apathetic, we don’t have to do anything…all we have to do is sit. And that’s where Satan’s power lies – in nothingness.

But again, no! We were not given spirits without passion! We, who are in Christ, have been given spirits with passion! “For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God…For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline.” (2 Timothy 1:6-7)

So what do we do?

Well Jesus, speaking to the church of Sardis, said, “I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead.” Let’s stop right here again. Is that you?

If so, read on to the solution: “Wake up! Strengthen what remainsand is about to die...Remember, therefore what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you.”Revelation 3:1-3

What’s the solution? Strengthen what remains and is about to die.

Did you used to read God’s Word more often?

Do it.

Did you used to pray more often?

Restart talking with God, your Creator – and again do it more often.

Repent (turn) and do the things you did at first.

Bottom line: WAKE UP! We all need to wake up to the reality of what is going on around us! We need to wake up and remember who died for us, why he died for us and how we don’t deserve it! We need to pray for forgiveness and pray God gives us passion again!

And then you will once again see yourself with passion for the things of God.

Satan is trying to make us apathetic to the things of God! But here’s the deal: he has to bow to the name of Christ.

So tell him to leave in the name of Christ. Explain to him how he will no longer have power over you…and then run to Christ, pray again for passion………and RUN!

Pray

Read

Run! (and I mean it! I’ll run with you! Let’s run with Christ to accomplish the mission He has given us! Matthew 28:18-20)

For those of you who don’t yet know Christ:

…you probably would say that you have always been apathetic toward God (or maybe for you it was passion against God). He offers you Life (notice the capital “L”). As I noted above, God sent His Son Jesus Christ as payment for your sins – He died for you – because He loves you. God said your payment could be met in Christ…and He loves you so much that He did give His only Son (John 3:16). And now He says, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me” (Revelation 3:20). That signifies a relationship. Will you open the door to the Messiah, Savior, Christ? God’s grace? If you feel him “knocking” on your heart, will you open the door and say, “Come in…”?

“…if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.” Romans 10:9-10

If you feel Christ invading your life right now, open up and give him your life. If you have more questions about how to begin a relationship with God, call or text me @ 405-315-4837 or Facebook message me…